How it works
From your marks to a rough grade
You bring the eyes. Ruffgrade measures, takes a second look and does the math. Nothing goes in the report unless you put it there.
- 01
Pick the book
Bring it over from Shelfcache: the title, issue and year come with it.
- 02
Photograph front and back
Tap the comic’s four corners so we can straighten it, and every photo is read square-on.
- 03
Mark what you see
Pick a brush for damage, creases and spine ticks, edges and corners, surface or markings, and paint over the flaw. Ruffgrade measures each mark: a crease’s length in eighths, how far a run of ticks spreads. For a run of ticks, you say how many there are.
- 04
Get a second look
When you’re done marking, Ruffgrade points out any spots worth another look. Add the ones you agree with. The rest stay as you left them.
- 05
Answer what photos can’t show
Completeness, creases, markings, repairs, contaminants, paper. Each group collapses to one “Anything here?” for a clean book.
- 06
See the math
A rough letter grade, the reason for every limit, and a grade after pressing when pressing would help.
- 07
Keep it or share it
Keep it private, or share it: the report locks, and you get a link, a QR code and a card image.
The math, in plain words
How your marks become a grade
The worst flaw sets the ceiling
Smaller flaws stack below it. Size tables say how far a crease, tear, stain or missing piece holds a book down.
Sizes add up
Color-breaking creases, tears and stains count by their total, the way pressers and graders measure them. Creases that don’t break color count gently, and whether the book lies flat decides the rest.
Older books get some allowance
Small flaws count a little less the older the book is.
Page color uses CGC’s words
Light Tan or darker caps the grade at VF. Slightly brittle pages cap it at FN; brittle, at VG.
Letters, not numbers
NM, VF, FN, VG and “VG or below.” Below VG, grading is mostly eye appeal. Something left unanswered widens the range downward, never up.
Printing flaws don’t count
Miswraps, overspray and date stamps are listed but don’t lower the grade.
The math, as a report explains it
“A crease this size (1.0 in) usually keeps a book at 8.0 or below, however clean the rest of it is.”
Limits
What a photo can’t show
Light creases in flat light, interior pages, odor, restoration. That’s why the questions exist, and why the buyer checks the book in hand.